The invention concerns a method for producing a textile sheet heating element.
Such a method is known from EP 1 815 717 B1. The method described in that document serves in particular to produce sheet heating elements used in seat heaters in the automotive sector. In accordance with this method, by means of machine knitting, a base material, for example a non-woven material, is pierced with a knitted material.
In one and the same work step, by machine knitting, heat conductors are inserted at least partly as warp threads and contact conductors that touch the heat conductors are inserted at spacings from one another as weft threads or weft thread groups, such that the heat conductors and contact conductors are an integral component of the base material.
One advantage of this method is that the heat conductors and contact conductors are integrated into the sheet heating element in one work step along with the production of the knitted material itself, the result being a significant streamlining advantage in the production of the sheet heating elements, compared to previously known methods in which the contact conductors and heat conductors had to be integrated into the sheet heating element in a multi-step process.
The invention aims to solve the problem of providing a method of the aforementioned type which enables further improved, streamlined manufacturing of sheet heating elements with high functionality. Advantageous embodiments and expedient further developments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.